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food safety | SPS

food safety | sanitary and phytosanitary standards

KCTU to launch general strike on July 2
17-Jun-2008 Hankyoreh
Labor movement will lead candlelight protests for renegotiation of US beef agreement, KCTU says
One million South Korean people and workers protested against the Unfair US beef import agreement and the neoliberal government policies!
17-Jun-2008 KCTU
On June 10th, around one million people and workers gathered to demand renegotiation of US beef import agreement across the country. In case of Seoul, around 500,000 people participated in the candlelight vigil and march.
SKorea unions may strike over beef imports, more talks set
17-Jun-2008 AFP
South Korean unions on Tuesday threatened a general strike in protest of a US beef import deal, as negotiators in Washington tried to find a way out of the crisis shaking the Seoul government.
US-South Korean beef talks fail to reach agreement
16-Jun-2008 Xinhua
Talks between the United States and South Korea over the resumption of American beef imports ended Sunday without any agreement, US Trade Representative spokeswoman Gretchen Hamel said.
Ranbaxy deal may help India’s entry into Japan
16-Jun-2008 Financial Express
The Daiichi Sankyo-Ranbaxy Laboratories deal has come as a shot in the arm for India’s Comprehensive Economic Co-operation Agreement (CECA) negotiations with Japan. Indian pharma companies have been unable to break into Japan, the world’s second largest drug market, due to the country’s stringent sanitary and phytosanitary standards, technical barriers to trade (TBT) and environmental norms.
Beef imports to Korea: An open letter to President Bush
15-Jun-2008 OhMyNews
Korean middle school student Chae-song Kim asks that the trade agreement be reconsidered
South Korea’s beef with America
14-Jun-2008 FPIF
To the rest of the world, South Korean protests over the safety of US beef are portrayed as an expression of simmering anti-Americanism. Without a doubt, anti-American sentiments have historical roots. But Koreans also have a legitimate claim to fear the safety of US beef.
Korea, US to forge additional understandings on beef deal
12-Jun-2008
US Ambassador Alexander Vershbow said Thursday the United States and South Korea will come up with a solution to the ongoing controversy over Seoul’s decision to resume imports of American beef thorough "additional understandings"’ to their deal signed in April. Vershbow, however, ruled out renegotiating the deal, saying it could damage the national interests of the two countries ― including the possible failure to ratify the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
Massive candlelight protests draw one million nationwide
11-Jun-2008 The Hankyoreh
Up to a million Korean citizens from all walks of life participated in candlelight protests held on the 21st anniversary of a pro-democracy uprising, with a total of 118 candlelight protests held across the country on June 10.
1 million people vs US beef
10-Jun-2008
On 10 June 2008, Korean social movements resisting the re-opening of their country’s borders to US beef under a bilateral deal signed by the two governments are holding a watershed rally where they aim to get one million people in the streets.
"Korean people vs US beef" video interview
10-Jun-2008
Video interview with Geum Soon Yoon, member of Korean Peasant Woman’s Association, taped on 3 June 2008.
Taking action against US beef imports
9-Jun-2008 Hankyoreh
A farmer, 56, who is only identified by his surname, Kim, lies in the hospital after having set himself on fire on June 5, in protest against the US beef import agreement at Seoul City Hall Plaza.
Korean man dies after beef protest
9-Jun-2008 RTE News
A South Korean man, Lee Byong-Ryol, has died in hospital two weeks after setting himself ablaze in protest at a deal to resume US beef imports.
Seoul to enforce private sector ban on US beef from older cattle
8-Jun-2008 Yonhap
The South Korean government says it will return or destroy all US beef from cattle older than 30 months in the process of its import quarantine if private sectors in both South Korea and the US voluntarily reach an agreement to impose an age limit in their beef trade. This would run directly counter to the US-Korea beef import deal signed in mid-April.
Situation about Korean people’s struggle on beef deal
6-Jun-2008
Korean public opinion wants a complete scrap of the April 18 beef deal with the US. The scale, intensity, and variety of participants in the street protests continue to grow. The mood is like a “Second June Struggle,” the June Struggle of 1987 having been a significant event in Korea’s democracy movement. However some say that the May struggle for nullification of Beef deal has a lot of significant signs that differ from 1987 democracy struggle. These actions are creating New democracy.
Thousands begin protest over US beef amid fears of violent clash
5-Jun-2008 Yonhap
Rally organizers claimed as many as 1 million people could turn out nationwide for a scheduled rally on Tuesday, when the country marks the anniversary of a 1987 democratic uprising that led the then military regime to grant free elections, prompting ensuing political reforms.
Korea gives up renegotiating deal
5-Jun-2008 Korea Times
A senior government official indicated Thursday that the Korean government would not ask the United States to renegotiate the beef import deal. Opposition parties and the majority of the people, however, want the renegotiation.
S Korea’s new plan for US beef rejected by US
4-Jun-2008
The plan called for US exporters to voluntarily limit exports of beef from cattle older than 30 months
Despite gov’t action, protests against US beef continue
4-Jun-2008 Hankyoreh
The “People’s Countermeasure Council against Full Resumption of Imports of US Beef Endangered with Mad Cow Disease,” an umbrella organization of Korean civic groups and cyber activists issued a statement on June 3 saying that the government "needs to decide for sure that it will fully and permanently prohibit the importation of beef [from US cattle over 30 months old], and demand that the US accept this.”
Seoul asks Washington not to ship beef from older cattle
3-Jun-2008 Yonhap
Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun said that until the two nations reach an agreement on the age limit of cattle when they are slaughtered for meat to be exported to South Korea, Seoul will not implement its revised sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards. The move effectively allows South Korea to keep its import ban on US beef that has been in place since early October.